KINGSTON – A 45-mile kayak trip down the Hudson River from Kingston to Fort Montgomery is being billed as a salute to the 800,000 American veterans who served in Afghanistan during American’s longest war – from 2001 to 2021.
The trip, which will depart from the Hudson Valley Maritime Museum in Kingston on Wednesday (tomorrow) will end on Sunday at the Fort Montgomery battlefield site.
The event is being run by the Hudson Valley National Center for Veteran Reintegration. The group’s executive director, Kevin Keaveny, said the trip will serve a number of purposes.
“The key focus is to raise awareness for veteran suicide and homelessness. This year we are also going to focus on the withdrawal from Afghanistan. It is on the minds of a lot of our veterans and I think it is important that we address it,” he said.
Keaveny said combat veterans are flying in from across the country to participate in the four-night, five-day trip.
